Lithuania plans to build a metal fence topped with razor wire of 4 meters (13 feet) on the borders of Belarus. According to AsiaOne Magazine, the cost of the fence is expected to be around $178 million. The government also announced a plan to offer the migrants who agree to return to their countries of origin a sum of €300 each. Interior minister Agne Bilotaite told Reuters news agency that without this physical barrier it is impossible to protect the borders of the country. However, a spokesman for the EU said the bloc does not finance fences or barriers. The EU has offered help to the
On Tuesday, the United State peace envoy was back in the Middle East and warned the Taliban not to pursue a military victory on the ground. The US delivered a blunt message: A Taliban government that comes to power through force in Afghanistan will not be recognized. Zalmay Khalilzad of the U.S. The State Department said that the U.S. envoy was in Doha, Qatar where the Taliban maintain a political office, as mentioned to AsiaOne Magazine. They help formulate a joint international response to the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. The state department said the U.S. envoy would
On Tuesday, 2500 Russian, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan troops along with 500 military vehicles wrapped up their drills intended to stimulate the joint response on potential security threats coming from Afghanistan. The war games that began last week were held at the Harb-Maiden, as reported to AsiaOne Magazine. The firing range was about 20 kilometers north of the Tajik border with Afghanistan. They saw the troops practice action against invading militants. The Russian su-25 attack jets struck mock targets imitating militant vehicles as a part of their exercise. According to the Russian mili
North Korea has repeated a threat to respond to the U.S. South Korean military exercise as its claims are an invasion rehearsal. Meanwhile, the U.S. insists that the drills were purely defensive to maintain the South’s security. Ned Price of the State Department reported in Washington that they have long maintained the United States harbors no hostile intent towards the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. He further added that they support inter-Korean dialogue, engagement and will continue to work with their partners (South Korea) towards that end as reported to AsiaOne News. On
Foreign Affairs Minister Raychelle Omamo along with her Kenyan delegation held talks with Somali Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble in Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu on Sunday. The neighboring states were not on a strong footing for several months but came together to agree to cement the relations between them. The areas which the delegates mainly agreed on were diplomacy, trade, and security. The prime minister’s office gave a press statement about President Uhuru Kenyatta extending an invitation for Somalia’s prime minister to visit Nairobi. The disputed existing maritime between t
On Monday, The U.S. secretary of State Antony Blinken called out bullying in the South China Sea. Blinken even warned the U.N. Security Council that the conflict would have serious global consequences for security along with commerce which would spark a strong rebuke from China. Washington rejects China’s territorial claims by Beijing in the resource-rich water as unlawful. Blinken told the Security Council meeting on maritime security that “when a state faces no consequences for ignoring these rules, it fuels greater impunity and instability everywhere”. He further added that they h
First time ever an Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi chaired the first-ever independent discussion on maritime security in the UNSC. On Monday, India held its first major activity during its presidency of the global body in which China was snubbed by the UNSC regarding its sea convention. China showed its displeasure by sending the deputy permanent representative Dai Bing to the meeting and its overcoming reluctance towards the unprecedented India-led UN security council session. The session highlighted the primacy of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which
On Monday, The United Nations Security Council adopted its first-ever outcome documented on maritime security under India's “Presidential Statement”. The UNSC was a high-level debate on maritime affairs which was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sources said that as per practices, the presidential statement has to be adopted unanimously. The process was said not to be smooth with one P-5 country holding out till the very end on language related to the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). India's negotiators deserved credit to be able to find language acceptable to all.
In the first phone call by the new president of Iran Ebrahim Raisi to the Western leader, asked his French counterpart to help them secure Iran’s “rights” in now-stalled talks to revive Tehran’s nuclear deal with the world powers. The president is the hard-line cleric and protege of Iran’s supreme leader who was sworn in last week. The official IRNA news agency reported that Raisi told the French President Emmanuel Macron that the U.S. and the European Union must implement their commitments under the landmark 2015 deal. The original 2015 nuclear agreement had France alongside the
The Biden administration on Thursday offers “safe haven” to the vast majority of Hong Kong residents currently in the United States. They will be seen eligible but with some legal conditions such as not having been convicted of felonies earlier. They will be allowed to extend their stay in the country after the response of Beijing’s crackdown on democracy in Chinese territory. According to the reports of AsiaOne Magazine, since last year the PRC continued to assault Hong Kong's autonomy which undermined its remaining democratic processes and institutions which imposed the limits on a